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Introducing Uncover: English For All

UCCF: The Christian Unions’ vision is to give every student in Great Britain an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In doing so, we are well aware of the huge number of international students the Lord brings to our universities each year.

‘We are also well aware of the way that Uncover has served our vision and fuelled evangelism in a new way over the last five years,’ comments Abigail Gallagher, UCCF’s Uncover Coordinator. ‘It has been thrilling to launch the Uncover John Seeker Bible Studies in Chinese and to start helping students think about how to reach Chinese friends.’

Despite the increasing number of Uncover translations, Abigail saw an opportunity to do more to help international students studying the Bible. ‘We can’t produce a version of Uncover in every language. However, we can produce a version in simple English to make it as easy as possible for international students to read and understand.’

'I remember my first study with an international seeker group. Knowing we would be reading Mark 1:1, "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God", I had carefully prepared explanations for "gospel", "Christ" and "Son of God", but was caught off guard when Julie, a bright-eyed Masters student from China, opened with, "Who is God?". Four weeks later, as we began our study, Julie surprised me again by saying, "What a pity Jesus isn't in the world today. We need Jesus too." She had never heard about the resurrection and I got to be the one to tell her! … Studying the Bible with someone from a different culture is such an adventure.'

– ‘Studying Uncover with an international friend’ – UCCF Uncover John English For All Leader’s Notes

For Ben Harding, UCCF Staff Worker in the Midlands, the need for a simpler English translation was obvious. ‘From my experience, international students enjoy – and often prefer – doing the Uncover studies in English, as part of the reason they are studying in the UK is because they want to improve their English.' Indeed, the students Ben works with at Warwick University have been using Uncover John in their CU Globe Café, where they were adapting the original questions to make the study more accessible for international students.

Uncover: English for All studies are an adaptation of the original Uncover John Seeker Bible Studies, with simplified text, culturally-specific illustrations removed, and a glossary on every page. Writer Jo Ratcliff has worked alongside the editors of Uncover John to ensure that the original emphasis of the studies is preserved. UCCF has also developed accompanying Leader’s Notes, available to download for free, which contains cross-cultural advice and tips for preparing and leading each study.

UCCF also hopes that these studies prove a blessing further afield to IFES movements in universities around the world. Five thousand copies of Uncover: English for All will be sent to the upcoming IFES evangelism conference in April 2017, where they will be given to every delegate. UCCF summer teams also plan to use this new version in their English conversation classes, Bible study clubs and summer camps they run in partnership with local IFES groups.

As well as those who have English as an additional language, the studies are also designed to be used by those with limited literacy skills, so that all Christians might be able to read and discuss the gospel with a friend. We pray that the new edition will prove a blessing to the wider Church and open many more doors for the gospel!